Improvement in apparatus for carrying railroad-rails



A. J. GUSTIN.

APPARATUS PoR CARRYING RAILROAD-RAILS.

No. 190,211. Patented Mayl, 1877.

ATTORNEYS.

".PEYERS, PHOTOiITHOGRAPHER, WASHXNGTON. D C.

ANDREW J. GUSTIN, OF ST. ALBANS, VERMONT.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS. FOR'CQAR-RYING RAILROAD-RAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 190,21 H, dated May 1, 1877; application filed March 3, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. GUsTIN, of St. Albans, in the county of Franklin and State of Vermont, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus for Conveying Rails to the Gooling'Bed, of which the following is a specification In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a top view, and Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinal section on line or m, Fig. 1, of my improved apparatus for conveying rails to the cooling-bed.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention has reference to an improved apparatus by which the rails are taken up and conducted to the cooling-bed, after having been passed through the bending-rolls that impart the proper camber, so as to compensate for the unequal shrinkage of the rail while becoming cold, and also for moving the rails en masse from the position where they are left to cool to the end where they are taken off to the straightening-machine; and the invention consists of a bed-frame with lateral chains and rail-carrying shoes, the chains and shoes being guided in grooved rails, flush with the bearing-rails of the bed, and the chains automatically adjusted to expansion and contraction by movable and weighted pulleybearings; also, two long screws with suitable bearings at the ends, and dogs shaped to fit the screws, and guided in grooves to hold them in position. The dogs are provided with trip-latches, and the screws are connect ed with reversible driving-shaft with gears.

In the drawing, A represents the coolingbed, which is constructed of a length to correspond with the length of the rail, and of proper width for the convenient storing of a suitable number of rails. The bed A is made of a number of longitudinal rails, with a lateral center plate or bed, to which the rails are delivered from the bending-rolls.

At both sides of the bed, and at right angles to the direction in which the rails are moved from the bending-rolls to the bed, are arranged endless chains B, that are set in motion by pulleys a of a revolving shaft, B at one end, and stretched over pulleys b at the other end of bed A. The chains B run in grooves of guide-rails B and in grooves G of the center plate of bed A, so as to be on a level with the bed, and have no projecting parts that interfere with or take hold of any rail when placed into position on the coolingbed.

The chains B are provided with smooth links or shoes, having projecting catches d, for engaging the rails when delivered on the center plate, and carrying the same toward either end of the bed.

The first rails are carried to the extreme end of the bed, and stored thereon parallel to each other, the shoes being returned every time to the center plate until one side of the bed is filled. The shoes are then moved to the other side of the frame, and the rails laid up there in similar manner for cooling.

The expansion and contraction of the carrying-chains is provided for by making the supports or bearings D of the stretching-pulleys b movable on guide-rails e. This is done by connecting the pulley-shafts by pivoted bails f and chains f passing over fixed pulleys f to a weight, I), that moves automatically the bearing D forward as soon as the expansion of the chains commences by the influence of the heated rails. The contraction of the chains carries the sliding pulleys back, and so on, keeping the chains continually at proper tension. The rails are then, in rapid manner, carried to their proper places on the cooling-bed by a simple, effective, and readilycontrolled apparatus.

When one side of the bed is filled, and it is desired to move those rails nearest the center plate to the end where they are taken off to the straightening machine, the reversible driving-shaft E and screws E are started in l the proper direction to move the dogs F toward the center of bed, and when they have arrived at a point between the last rail delivered and the center plate the trip-latches F will assume an upright position, and when the motion of the screws E is reversed the dogs will move from the center to the end, and the latches, engaging with the rails, carry them to the end of bed.

The screws may be made long enough to extend from one extreme to the other of the bed, so as to move the rails ofl' either end, or

Having thus described my invention, I'clain'n': as new and desire to secure by Letters Pat-- ent- 1. The combination, with an endless chain,

B, subject tov expansion by hot rails,-of a pulley, 1), arrangedin a slide-bearing, D, held by a movable Weight, as shown and described.

2. The combination of the guides F with the screws, dogs, and latches for carrying the rails en masse, and operated substantially -in the manner described.

ANDREW J. ensmnvi Witnesses:

WILBUR P. DAVIS, GEO. O.-ELLSWORTH. 

